I am moving apartments and I'm the only one who takes care of my 20 gal aquarium. I had to add water to the tank and reinstall the filter and handle everything inside the tank. I'm six weeks pregnant and didn't realize what I was doing until just now. I read about certain illnesses handling other animals, though it was cats, not fish. Is handling freshwater aquarium fish ok? i guess its stupid to ask now, i've already set up their tank and washed my hands a few times. Also, I had a scrape and a cut on my hand. I washed that too and used peroxide. Does anyone know if what I did was super bad or not?
Thanks in advance.
2007-06-15 17:58:45 · 9 answers · asked by JaneDo 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
the cat thing is about toxoplasmosis, a parasite carried by cats in their litter boxes that can cause complications.
2007-06-15 18:11:48 · update #1
There are very few diseases that are ever present in aquariums that humans can catch. The biggest and most famous it called Fish TB ( it's nothing like human TB) and even for that you would need an open wound exposed to infected fish. So there is basically no harm from a disease aspect at all.
The only real potential dangers would come from exposure to medications. Don't handle fish medications or the water medications are dissolved in without first showing it to your Dr. and asking about any potential risk. Several fish medications are known carcinogens, while others include antibiotics with unknown effect to an unborn baby. I am a fish disease and treatment specialist, but I'm in no way a Dr. or pharmacist so I will not attempt to list all of the potentially safe or potentially harmful drugs or chemicals you could encounter.
As long as your fish are disease free and you aren't treating the tank with medications, there is no risk.
Hope that helps and best wishes for a safe pregnancy and safe delivery! Congrats mom!
MM
2007-06-15 18:18:22 · answer #1 · answered by magicman116 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Firstly congrats on being pregnant...
Its great you are trying to protect bubs but no, handling fish will not hurt the baby. I never heard of the cat one either...I had acts right through my pregnancy and my daughter was fine! I thought it was just incase the cat sat on the babies face after it was born and smothered it... not during prgnancy though.
I think you should chill out. If anyone tells you not to handle fish, dont listen, you are being a little paranoid but it is better to be safe than sorry.
Being pregnant is one of the best thing you will ever do. Enjoy every minute of it and dont worry about the small things.
The only things that will hurt your baby are things that may physically hurt or stress you out or harmful things you consume or take (alcohol or drugs etc..) not things you touch with your hands.
Do yourself a favor and dont do too much research! There are some h*ll strange things out there that are totally wrong - like dont handle fish!
Relax, enjoy it and all the best of luck with your bubs!
x x x
2007-06-15 18:05:55 · answer #2 · answered by Kira 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't know of anything that has been spread by an aquarium. If you don't want to handle any chemicals related to fish tanks, which I think would be a good idea, start using distilled bottled water when you need to add water to the tank. It has is a 7.0 ph so you shouldn't need to add much of anything. I think you are ok, heck people still take baths and even give birth in the water.
2007-06-15 18:05:47 · answer #3 · answered by Ferret Mom in MO 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some good filters are power filters like the aquaclear brand. Another is the Marinland power filters. All these filters provide good mechanical, biological, and chemical filtration. For the heaters u can go cheap with the top fin heaters, but the Rena heaters are better, but more expensive. As for the Air pump, u really dont need it, the filters will provide enough surface agitation for the fish, but a good pump is tetra whisper pump. Some good fish for beginners are guppies one sticking to one sex because they have many babies and will overpopulate your tank
2016-05-17 05:45:54 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The water and filter are fine. Be careful of the heavy lifting.
2007-06-15 18:03:49 · answer #5 · answered by Harrlock 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You should be OK as long as you don't lift anything...and make sure you wash your hands when you are done handling the stuff....You should be fine ... if to worried call your doctor..
2007-06-15 18:05:21 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I personally wouldn't but I have had a miscarriage so I am super cautious.
2007-06-15 18:00:21 · answer #7 · answered by Amata26 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
don't be surprised when baby pops out with gills or fins
2007-06-15 18:14:32 · answer #8 · answered by stinly 1 · 0⤊ 4⤋
BAD VERY WADE
2007-06-15 18:10:10 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 4⤋